I am angry about dress codes.

photo by Photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash

Oh jeeze. Dress codes. There is so much wrapped up in there. Often dress codes are justified for the comfort of others, which is often a disguised version of sexism, the sexualization of femme bodies, and slut shaming (to name a few).

There are lots of things that are fucked up with dress codes. There’s telling women/girls/femme folks to dress a certain way so they don’t “distract” men/boys in school (and thereby prioritize boys’ learning, shame girls/femmes, sexualize girls/femme presenting bodies, and assume boys/men cannot control themselves. There are so many examples of this.). There’s addressing issues of sexual harassment and assault by policing what people wear (instead of teaching people about being respectful and consensual with others). There’s assuming that certain outfits will protect you from sexual assault while others will make you vulnerable (This is a myth. This is victim blaming. Clothes do not invite sexual assault. Rape predates the mini skirt). There’s shaming people when they wear something considered “inappropriate” or “suggestive” by publicly asking them to leave the gym, or get a change of clothes (thereby using public humiliation as a tool to control what girls/women/femmes wear). There’s dress codes based on white notions of “professionalism” (supporting racist policies which prohibit People of Colour – specifically black women – from wearing their natural hair in schools). There’s assuming that boys/men are not able to control themselves (which massively underestimates men’s capabilities). Dress codes project the idea that when femme folks dress a certain way their bodies become inherently sexualized, and as such are inherently at risk of an assault. This mentality blames the person experiencing harm, instead of focusing on the person who caused the harm.

The good news is that administrations are starting to recognize the damaging impact that dress codes can have on people. The Greater Victoria School board is in the process of reviewing its dress code language to remove anything that targets girls.

And then there’s the other news. The Martlet recently published an article detailing the experiences of a woman who was approached by a staff member and asked to change because her shorts were “too short”.

“I walk away, try to calm myself because I was so embarrassed. And then I look back — everyone was still staring at me,” Luiza says, speaking through tears. “I felt like they were looking at me like I was the biggest slut. It felt so humiliating.”
( from http://www.martlet.ca/change-in-carsa-dress-code-sparks-online-backlash/)

this is literally what the person was wearing when they were kicked out of the gym

All of this has been justified by CARSA’s new dress code, which “maintain a healthy, safe environment in the weight room” by enforcing that “All patrons must wear attire that covers their abdomen, chest and gluteal fold. No open-toed shoes, sandals or dress shoes. Shirts cannot be mesh or see-through.”

And yet while the staff aim to foster a “safe environment”, they are publicly humiliating gym members.

And this is not a solitary incident. Another Martlet article describes the experiences of one woman who was banned from the gym after responding to a man ogling her by telling him to “fuck off” and giving him the finger.

“… I was told to phone security whenever sexual harassment occurs. Peterson admitted that the student staff at CARSA aren’t properly trained to deal with these issues. Eddy kept interrupting me while I was trying to express myself — I felt like she was trying to bully me. Peterson told me that I shouldn’t give sexual harassers the finger, because , “think about how you would feel.” I replied that I don’t sexually harass people. To think that the Associate Director of CARSA sympathizes with sexual harassers is actually quite disturbing.”
(from http://www.martlet.ca/my-experiences-with-sexual-harassment-at-carsa/)

It is distressing to hear that the person who experienced violence was punished for standing up for herself – particularly when it was admitted that staff have no training to deal with such situations. If staff are not properly equipped to respond or prevent sexual harassment, and those who experience harassment are suspended for resisting such violence, who is CARSA protecting? I would assume when CARSA says “safe” they mean fostering an environment where folks feel safe (enough) to work out without experiencing violence, NOT safe enough to sexually harass other gym members. I am curious about the “healthy environment” which publicly humiliates gym members and fails to prioritize those who experience harm.

Dress codes do not stop sexual harassment from occurring.

What this calls for is more training. CARSA needs to take an active role in training their staff to respond to sexualized violence and at the very least train their staff to enforce the dress code in caring/not-shaming ways (if it’s going to exist). It is unsettling, and yet unsurprising, that those who experience violence at CARSA are having to demand that staff are trained. We know that gyms are dominated by masculine folks, and we know that men are the widespread perpetrators of sexualized violence ( 90% of the time, sexualized violence is perpetrated by men, against other men, women, children, and gender variant folks). With this knowledge, it makes a lot of sense to train staff to deal with sexual harassment and other types of sexualized violence. If you’re going to recognize that is something isn’t tolerable, you need to have trained staff to respond. Right now folks are told just told to call campus security.

When it comes to dress codes, the issue isn’t clothing. The issue is a lack of knowledge on consent and respecting boundaries. The issue is one of entitlement over women and femme bodies.